Application for designing photo albums

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based application that allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of different photo album books (called photo books below). Each photo book has several pages that have one or more picture fields for presenting pictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes, covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-field layouts, and/or other attributes. In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modify photo books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematic aspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the user can add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated through the application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to applications for designing photo albums.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digital photography has increased the number of images a typical user stores and manages. There is no longer the need to buy expensive, single use film. There is no longer the need to carefully manage this film both before and after development of the film into costly inconvenient prints. There is also no longer the need to carefully select shots to conserve film or money. Film has essentially become an unlimited resource.

Consequently, a typical user with access to widely available modern image acquisition technologies (e.g., a scanner, a camera, etc.) may store many thousands of images on even more widespread storage technologies (e.g., memory cards, magnetic disks, optical disks, etc.). As many photographers, both amateur and professional, have come to realize, the trick with snapping a few good shots is no longer simply having the right light or the right film. Although the traditional issues of image acquisition still exist, new complications of how to edit and manage the volume of image data accumulating on a typical computer hard drive now burden the typical computer user.

In the past, image collectors would develop, edit, and assemble hard wrought photo/journalistic creations into scrapbooks, photo albums, and other culminations or creative work of this sort. The development of computer applications for editing images and assembling the images have greatly reduced the effort needed to create a modern masterpiece out of a few pictures. However, the field of existing image management applications is still in its infancy. These applications suffer from lack of usability and may require users a high degree of technical knowledge and/or creative talent to produce a quality result or even any result. The existing applications may further limit a user's ability to customize their creations.

Thus, there is a need in the art to assist users in managing the volumes of their image data. There is also a need to allow users to edit and organize the image data into quality forms of expression. There is further a need to allow users additional means to custom tailor their creative works involving image data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based application that allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of different photo album books (called photo books below). Each photo book has several pages that have one or more picture fields for presenting pictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes, covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-field layouts, and/or other attributes.

In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modify photo books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematic aspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the user can add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated through the application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. However, for purpose of explanation, several embodiments of the invention are set forth in the following figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a graphical user interface of an application that is for editing and organizing photos.

FIG. 2 illustrates an image display section showing photographs that are part of an “Art” album after this album is selected in a source display section.

FIG. 3 illustrates photographs from a “Scenery” album after the selection of this album in the source display section.

FIG. 4 illustrates a window from which the user can select a photo book of some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a preview section providing a preview of a “Watercolor” photo book when this photo book is selected a list section.

FIG. 6 illustrates that when a user selects a drop-down menu, the menu opens up to provide the user with a list of different sizes and different coverings for the photo book.

FIG. 7 illustrates that a “Picture Book” is the only photo book available in softcover for a small size photo book.

FIG. 8 illustrates that in some embodiments, when the user selects the “Choose Theme” button, the application provides the user with a notice.

FIG. 9 illustrates that, when the user selects the manual-insertion button in the notice, the application replaces the image-display section and the image-command section in the GUI with a thumbnail-preview display section, a photo-album display section, a thumbnail-control section, and an edit-control section.

FIG. 10 illustrates the selection of five images.

FIG. 11 illustrates the selection of the “Travel” photo book for five selected images.

FIG. 12 illustrates the five selected imaged in a thumbnail display section.

FIG. 13 illustrates that when the user selects the icon, the preview section illustrates a thumbnail view of the pages of the photo book.

FIG. 14 illustrates that the first page of some photo books might include user-editable text fields for inserting a title or a description of the photo book.

FIG. 15 illustrates the second and third pages of the Scenery photo book that was discussed by reference to FIG. 9

FIG. 16 illustrates the photo-album display section presenting only the third page of the photo book, when the user selects the one-page view icon.

FIG. 17 illustrates moving a slider to enlarge a display of a page presentation.

FIG. 18 illustrates a fourth and fifth page of a “Scenery” photo book.

FIG. 19 illustrates two picture fields that do not have any frames around them.

FIG. 20 illustrates three picture fields with different types of frames around them.

FIG. 21 illustrates that some picture fields can extend to the boundary of the page, in some embodiments.

FIG. 22 illustrates a picture field that has a collage design, which is created through stripes that are placed over certain parts of the picture field instead of over the frames around the boundary.

FIG. 23 illustrates a window that opens after the selection of a page-type button.

FIG. 24 illustrates window that specifies different number of picture fields for a currently selected page.

FIG. 25 illustrates that once the user makes a selection, the number of picture fields presented on the selected page of the photo book changes from two to three.

FIG. 26 illustrates that a window opens when the user selects the page-design command icon.

FIG. 27 illustrates that the user can specify a different page design for the currently selected page by selecting a different design in the window.

FIG. 28 illustrates a new page design that differs from the page design illustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27 in terms of the layout of the three picture fields and in terms of the background color of the page.

FIG. 29 illustrates that if the user clicks on the Add Page icon while viewing the page 3 of the Scenery photo book, the original pages 4 and 5 become pages 5 and 6 of the photo book and a new page 4 is added to the photo book.

FIG. 30 also illustrates that if the user clicks on the Add Page icon while viewing the page 3 of the Scenery photo book, the original pages 4 and 5 become pages 5 and 6 of the photo book and a new page 4 is added to the photo book.

FIG. 31 illustrates that some embodiments also allow a user to add or remove a page from a photo book through a command window that the user can open on top of the photo book page.

FIG. 32 illustrates the start of the dragging of a selected picture thumbnail in the preview section.

FIG. 33 illustrates the dragging of the selected picture thumbnail on top of a picture field on page 2 of the Scenery photo book.

FIG. 34 illustrates the presentation of the picture associated with the thumbnail in the picture field.

FIG. 35 illustrates the dragging of a picture thumbnail to a location on the top of page 2 of the Scenery photo book above the picture field.

FIG. 36 illustrates that when the picture thumbnail is dropped at this location the application adds a new picture field to the page and display the picture associated with the thumbnail in the added picture field.

FIG. 37 illustrates the dragging of another picture thumbnail to a non-picture-field location on page 2 of the photo book.

FIG. 38 illustrates that the dragging illustrated in FIG. 37 results in page 2 having three picture fields.

FIG. 39 illustrates the dragging of a landscape picture in a field on page 2 to the landscape picture field on page 3 of the photo book.

FIG. 40 illustrates the resulting appearance of the pictures and picture fields on pages 2 and 3.

FIG. 41 illustrates a window for removing a picture from its picture field in the photo book.

FIG. 42 illustrates the selection of the Remove Photo command in a window.

FIG. 43 illustrates page 2 of the photo book after the removal of the picture from the picture field.

FIG. 44 illustrates removing a picture by dragging and dropping a picture from the thumbnail.

FIG. 45 illustrates that the drag-and-drop operation results in the picture of the dragged thumbnail replacing the picture that was previously in the picture field.

FIG. 46 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail of a portrait picture onto a landscape picture field that has a text field below it.

FIG. 47 illustrates that the result is a new picture field that has a portrait orientation with a text field to its left.

FIG. 48 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail of a landscape picture onto a portrait picture field that has another portrait picture field to its left.

FIG. 49 illustrates the result of a new picture field that has a landscape orientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field on its top right corner.

FIG. 50 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail of a landscape picture onto a portrait picture field that has another landscape picture field to its right side.

FIG. 51 then displays the result of a new picture field that has a landscape orientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field on its top right corner.

FIG. 52 illustrates that the user first has to select the picture in order to cause a zoom control bar to appear above the picture.

FIG. 53 illustrates the enlarged presentation of the picture in the picture field after the user has dragged the slider across the scroll bar.

FIG. 54 illustrates moving a picture in a picture field.

FIG. 55 illustrates the opening of the command window over a picture.

FIG. 56 illustrates that the edited-image window displays the picture that is being edited, while the image-edit-tools section includes icons for several edit commands.

FIG. 57 illustrates the start of a cropping operation that is initiated after the user selects the crop icon.

FIG. 58 illustrates the end of the cropping operation.

FIG. 59 illustrates the resulting cropped picture in the window.

FIG. 60 illustrates that the user can also toggle the orientation of a picture field.

FIG. 61 also illustrates that the user can also toggle the orientation of a picture field.

FIG. 62 illustrates that the user can move one picture field in front of another.

FIG. 63 also illustrates that the user can move one picture field in front of another.

FIG. 64 illustrates that the user can present a picture that fits the size of a picture field.

FIG. 65 also illustrates that the user can present a picture that fits the size of a picture field.

FIG. 66 illustrates the user's selection of the Theme icon while viewing a photo book that is based on the Watercolor theme.

FIG. 67 then illustrates a warning that the user is presented after selecting the Theme icon.

FIG. 68 illustrates that when the user confirms that he or she wishes to continue, the user is presented with the theme window.

FIG. 69 illustrates the user selecting a different theme, which in this case is the Travel theme.

FIG. 70 illustrates the user being presented with a photo book that is based on the travel theme.

FIG. 71 conceptually illustrates a process that represents an exemplary flow of interactions between the user and the photo editing and organizing application of some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 72 conceptually illustrates a computer system with which some embodiments of the invention is implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth for purposes of explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the invention may be practiced without the use of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary detail.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based application that allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of different photo album books (called photo books below). Each photo book has several pages that have one or more picture fields for presenting pictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes, covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-field layouts, and/or other attributes.

In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modify photo books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematic aspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the user can add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated through the application.

I. Overview of Picture Editing and Organizing Application

Some embodiments of the invention are implemented by an application that is for editing and organizing photos. FIG. 1 illustrates a graphical user interface 100 of one such application. As shown in this figure, the GUI 100 includes two display sections, a source display section 105 and an image display section 110. The source display section 105 illustrates icons that represent different collections of photographs, while the image display section 110 illustrates the photographs in a collection that is selected in the source display section 105.

For instance, in FIG. 1, the source display section 105 shows five collections, which are a “Library,” “Last Roll,” “Last 12 Months,” “Art,” and “Scenery” collections/albums. When a user selects any one of these collections, the photographs in these collections are displayed in the image display section 110. For example, in FIG. 1, the photographs that are illustrated in the image display section 110 are the photographs in the Library, which, in some embodiments, contains all photographs imported into the application. Alternatively, FIG. 2 illustrates the image display section 110 showing the photographs that are part of the Art album 125 after this album is selected in the source display section 105. Similarly, in the image display section 110, FIG. 3 illustrates the photographs from the Scenery album 130 after the selection of this album in the source display section 105.

II. Selecting a Photo Book Theme

The photo-organizing application illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 allows a user to arrange and publish his or her photos in one of several different photo books with different sizes and themes. Specifically, as shown in these figures, the GUI 100 of this application includes a book icon 120 in an image-command section 115 of the GUI 100.

When a user selects (e.g., through a click operation) the book icon 120, the application presents a window from which the user can select a photo book. FIG. 4 illustrates such a window 400 of some embodiments of the invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the window 400 includes two sections, a list section 405 and a preview section 410. The list section 405 presents all the available photo book themes in a scrollable list format, while the preview section 410 provides a preview of the photo book theme that is highlighted in the list section 405. For instance, in FIG. 4, the photo book theme highlighted in list section 405 is the “Picture Book,” and a preview of the “Picture Book” is provided in the preview section 410. FIG. 5 illustrates the preview section 410 providing a preview of the “Watercolor” photo book when this photo book is selected in the list section 405.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the window 400 includes a drop-down menu 415. FIG. 6 illustrates that when a user selects (e.g., clicks on) this drop-down menu 415, this menu 415 opens up to provide the user with a list of different sizes and different coverings (e.g., a hard cover or a soft cover) for the photo books. Not all of the photo books are available in all sizes and with all coverings. For instance, FIG. 7 illustrates that the Picture Book is the only photo book available in the small size as a soft cover.

As shown in FIGS. 4-7, the window 400 includes a selectable button 420 entitled “Options+Prices.” When a user selects this button (e.g., clicks on this button), a web browser (such as Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) presents a website that provides the user with prices and options for ordering the photo book that is currently highlighted in the list section 405.

The window 400 also includes a selectable button 425 entitled “Choose Theme.” This button allows a user to select the photo book theme that is highlighted in the list section 405. In other words, through this button 425, the user can direct the application to present a photo book according to the photo book theme that is highlighted in the list section 405 with the size and covering that is specified in the drop-down menu 415. In some embodiments, when the user selects the “Choose Theme” button, the application provides the user with a notice 800 that is illustrated in FIG. 8. As shown in this figure, the notice 800 allows the user (1) to click on a button 810 labeled “Automatically,” which if selected directs the application to automatically insert pictures into the selected photo book, or (2) to click on a button 805 labeled “Manually,” which if selected allows the user to insert the pictures manually into the selected photo book.

III. The Presentation of a Photo Book

Manual insertion of pictures in a selected photo book will be first described below. FIG. 9 illustrates that, when the user selects the manual-insertion button 805 in the notice 800, the application replaces the image-display section 110 and the image-command section 115 in the GUI 100 with a thumbnail-preview display section 905, a photo-album display section 910, a thumbnail-control section 915, and an edit-control section 920.

When the user chooses to manually insert pictures in a photo book, the display section 905 can provide thumbnail views of the pictures that are to be inserted (i.e., that have not yet been inserted) into the photo book, as shown in FIG. 9. Whenever a picture is placed on a page of the photo book, the picture's preview is deleted from the preview window 905. Alternatively, whenever a picture is removed from a page of the photo book, the picture's preview is added to the preview window 905.

Initially, when the user selects to manually insert pictures in the photo book, the pictures that are previewed in the window 905 are all the pictures that are to be inserted in the photobook. These pictures can be the pictures that the user selects in the image display section 110 before selecting the book icon 120. On the other hand, when the user does not select any pictures in the image display section 110, the pictures that are to be inserted in the photo book are all the pictures that were displayed in the image display section 110 right before the user selected the book icon 120. For instance, in the example illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5, 8, and 9, the user has not selected any particular pictures in the image-display section 110, which is displaying the pictures in the Scenery album 130. Hence, in this example, the preview display section 905 presents all the pictures that are in the Scenery album 130.

FIGS. 10-12 illustrate an alternative example where the user selects images in the image display section 110 before selecting the book icon 120. Specifically, FIG. 10 illustrates the selection of five images 1005-1025 in the image display section 110. FIG. 11 then illustrates the subsequent selection of the Travel photo book for these selected five images 1005-1025. FIG. 12 finally illustrates the five pictures 1005-1025 appearing in the thumbnail display section 905 after the user has selected to manually insert these pictures in the Travel photo book.

The thumbnail-preview section 905 can also provide a thumbnail preview of the pages of the photo book. Specifically, the thumbnail-control section 915 includes two icons 925 and 930. When the user selects the icon 925, the preview section 905 illustrates thumbnail views of the pictures that are to be inserted in the photo book, as shown in FIG. 9. On the other hand, when the user selects the icon 930, the preview section 905 illustrates a thumbnail view of the pages of the photo book, as shown in FIG. 13.

The photo-album display section 910 presents one or two editable pages of the selected photo book. The user can enlarge these pages and/or navigate through them by using the view-adjust icons 950 and 955, scrolling arrows 940 and 945, and size-adjust scroll bar 960, which are illustrated in FIG. 9. Specifically, the user can navigate through the pages of the photo book through the front and back scrolling arrows 940 and 945. For instance, by selecting the front scrolling arrow when viewing the front cover illustrated in FIG. 9, the application turns to the first page of the photo book, which is illustrated in FIG. 14.

Also, when the two-page view icon 950 is selected, the photo-album display section 910 presents to the user two pages of the photo book. As illustrated in FIG. 15, the two pages include the second and third pages of the photo book. Alternatively, when the one-page view icon 955 is selected, the display section 910 presents to the user one page of the photo book. For instance, FIG. 16 illustrates the photo-album display section 910 presenting only the third page of the photo book, when the user selects the one-page view icon 955.

The user can also adjust the size of the presentation in the photo-album display section 910 by moving a slider 965 across the scroll bar 960. For instance, FIG. 17 illustrates that the moving of the slider 965 to the right enlarges the display of the one page presentation of FIG. 16.

When the user selects manual insertion of photographs in a selected photo book, the application in some embodiments presents the user with the front cover of the photo book. In some of these embodiments, the application automatically labels the front cover with the name of the source (in the source list 105) of the pictures for inserting into the photo book. For instance, FIG. 9 illustrates the front cover of the photo book labeled as the Scenery Book as, in the example illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5, 8, and 9, the photos are all the photos in the Scenery album 130 that is listed in the source list 105.

Some embodiments allow the user to change the title that is automatically applied to the photo book, selecting the title (e.g., by clicking over the title) and modifying it. In addition to the title, the front cover of a photo book can also include one or more user-editable text fields, such as fields 970 and 975 illustrated in FIG. 9. Also, some of the pages within the photo books may include user-editable text fields. For instance, FIG. 14 illustrates that the first page of some photo books might include user-editable text fields for inserting a title or a description of the photo book.

IV. Photo Book Pages

As mentioned above, a photo book typically has several pages that have one or more picture fields each. Each picture field defines an area on the page for displaying a picture. For instance, FIG. 15 illustrates the second and third pages of the Scenery photo book that was discussed by reference to FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 15, the second page includes one picture field 1505, while the third page includes two picture fields 1510 and 1515. FIG. 18 illustrates the fourth and fifth pages of the Scenery photo book of FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 18, the fourth page includes four picture fields 1805-1820, while the fifth page includes two picture fields 1825 and 1830.

The design of each picture field can be different in different photo books or even in the same photo book. For instance, the picture fields illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 18 have frames around them. Other picture fields might have different frames around them, or might not have any frames around them. For instance, FIG. 19 illustrates five picture fields 1905-1925 that do not have any frames around them, while FIG. 20 illustrates picture fields 2005, 2010, and 2015 with different types of frames around them. In addition, some picture fields can extend to the boundary of the page, such as picture field 2105 illustrated in FIG. 21. Also, instead of or in conjunction with frames around their boundary, some picture fields might have designs on them. FIG. 22 illustrates one such picture field that has a collage design 2205, which is created through stripes that are placed over certain parts of the picture field.

As shown in FIGS. 15 and 18, each page of a photo book can have a different number of picture fields in some embodiments. Also, in these embodiments, different pages in the photo book can have different page designs (e.g., the arrangements of the picture fields, the coloring of the page, etc.).

Initially, when the user selects a photo book, the application presents the photo book based on the album's default page designs, colors, and picture fields of the selected photo book theme. The default page designs, colors, and picture fields of the photo book's theme are specified by graphic designers to maximize the expected appeal of a photo book. For instance, the designer of a photo book might avoid using the same number of picture fields in the same arrangement on successive pages of the photo book, especially successive pages that can be viewed concurrently.

V. Editing and Adding Photobook Pages

Some embodiments allow the user to modify different default thematic attributes of the pages of a photo book. For instance, FIGS. 23-25 illustrate that some embodiments allow the user to change the number of picture fields by using the page-type command icon 985 in the edit-control section 920 illustrated in FIG. 9.

Specifically, FIG. 23 illustrates that a window 2305 opens when the user selects the page-type button 985. This window 2305 presents the number of picture fields that can be specified for the currently selected photo book page, which is a page that the user has selected (e.g., by clicking on the page or by viewing just that page after selecting the single view icon 955) or that the application has selected as the current page in a two-page view of the photo book. In the example illustrated in FIG. 23, the current page is the third page of the photo book. As shown in FIG. 23, the window 2305 highlights the current number of picture fields on the currently selected page, when the window 2305 first opens. In this example, the window 2305 highlights “Two” as the number of picture fields currently on the selected page 3 of the photo book.

FIG. 24 illustrates that the user can specify a different number of picture fields for the currently selected page by selecting a different number in the window 2305. In this example, the user has specified the number “Three” as the new desired number of picture fields for the selected page 3 of the photo book. Once the user makes a selection, the number of picture fields presented on the selected page 3 of the photo book changes from two to three, as illustrated in FIG. 25. FIG. 25 also illustrates that the current number of picture fields (i.e., “Three” in this example) on a selected page is also identified on the page-type button 985, when the window 2305 closes.

Once the user selects a different number of picture fields for a page, the application presents a layout of the new picture fields that the application's designer has previously specified as an optimal layout for such a number of fields on the currently selected page. This specification is based in some embodiments on just the currently selected page, while it is based in other embodiments on the number of picture fields that are currently presented on the adjacent page that can concurrently be viewed with the currently selected page. For instance, in FIG. 23, the layout of the three picture fields on the selected page 3 is the layout that was specified a priori by a designer of the application to be an ideal layout when the three picture fields on page 3 are viewed in conjunction with the one picture field of page 2, which was illustrated in FIG. 15.

FIGS. 26-28 illustrate an example of how some embodiments allow a user to change the layout of the picture fields on a photo book page through a page-design command icon 980 in the edit-control section 920. The page-design command more generally allows the user to change the design of a page, which not only can include the layout of the picture field(s) on this page but can also include other thematic attributes. These attributes can include the background color of the page, the position of text on the page, the appearance of the page, the frame or presentation of a picture field on the page, etc.

FIG. 26 illustrates that a window 2605 opens when the user selects the page-design command icon 2680. This window 2605 presents a thumbnail preview of several different layouts for the current number of picture fields on the currently selected photo book page. Again, the currently selected photo book page is a page that the user has selected (e.g., by clicking on the page or by viewing just that page after selecting the single view icon 955). The application may also select the current page in a two-page view of the photobook. In this example, the selected page is the third page of the photo book after the changing of the number of picture fields from two to three. As shown in FIG. 26, the window 2605 identifies the page design of the currently selected page by placing a check next to one, of the page designs in the window 2605. Also, the page designs that are illustrated in the window 2605 are different based on at least one of their thematic attributes. For instance, the page designs illustrated in window 2605 of FIG. 26 differ in their page layout, page color, or both.

FIG. 27 illustrates that the user can specify a different page design for the currently selected page by selecting a different design in the window 2605. In this example, the user has specified the design that appears at the top of this window 2605. Once the user makes a selection, the design of the selected page 3 of the photo book changes from the design illustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27 to the design illustrated in FIG. 28. The new page design in FIG. 28 differs from the page design illustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27 in terms of the layout of the three picture fields and in terms of the background color of the page.

A user can also add pages to a photo book through the “Add Page” icon 990 in the edit-control section 920 illustrated in FIG. 9. When the user selects this icon, the application adds a page to the photo book following the current page that the user is viewing in the photo book. For instance, as mentioned above, FIG. 18 illustrates the original pages 4 and 5 in the Scenery photo book example of FIGS. 13-16. Now, if the user clicks on the Add Page icon 990 while viewing the page 3 of the Scenery photo book, the original pages 4 and 5 become pages 5 and 6 of the photo book and a new page 4 is added to the photo book, as illustrated in FIGS. 29 and 30.

Some embodiments also allow a user to add or remove a page to or from a photo book through the menu options presented on top of the application (e.g., through the drop-down Edit menu option, which includes Add Page and Remove Page commands). As shown in FIG. 31, some embodiments also allow a user to add or remove a page to or from a photo book through a command window 3105 that the user can open on top of the photo book page (e.g., by performing a control-click or right-hand click operation while the cursor is over a portion of a photo book page that is not covered by a picture field). FIG. 31 also illustrates this command window 3105 to include a Clean Up book option. This Clean Up book option will be further described below in Section IX.

VI. Adding and Removing Pictures and Picture Fields to the Photo Book Pages

Some embodiments allow a user to add and remove pictures and picture fields to and from the photo book by dragging pictures from the thumbnail preview display section 905. One way of adding a picture to the photo book is to drag the picture's thumbnail from the display section 905 to an empty picture field in the photo book. An example of such an operation is illustrated in FIGS. 32-34. FIG. 32 illustrates the start of the dragging of a selected picture thumbnail 3205 in the preview section 905. FIG. 33 illustrates the dragging of this picture thumbnail 3205 on top of picture field 3305 on page 2 of the Scenery photo book, which was discussed in the example in the prior sections. FIG. 34 illustrates the presentation of the picture associated with the thumbnail 3205 in the picture field 3305.

FIGS. 35 and 36 illustrate that another way to add a picture to the photo book is to drag the picture's thumbnail from the display section 905 to a location on a page of the photo book that is not occupied by a picture field. Specifically, FIG. 35 illustrates the dragging of a picture thumbnail 3505 to a location on the top of page 2 of the Scenery photo book above the picture field 3305. FIG. 36 then illustrates that when the picture thumbnail 3505 is dropped at this location (e.g., the cursor controller button is released while the cursor is at this location), the application adds a new picture field 3605 to the page and displays the picture associated with the thumbnail in the added picture field 3605.

In FIG. 36, the application also changes the previously defined picture field 3305 to a new picture field 3610. The application picks the attributes of the new picture field (e.g., the picture field's orientation, layout and type) and modifies previously defined picture field(s) to maximize the expected aesthetic appeal of the page. To maximize the aesthetic appeal, the application in some embodiments considers a variety of factors, such as the layout of any page that can be viewed concurrently with the current page, the orientation of the pictures on the current page, the theme of the photo book, the layout of other pages in the photo book, etc. For instance, FIG. 36 illustrates that the application picks the side-by-side layout for the page 2 of the photo book as this layout nicely matches the three picture field layout on page 3 of the photo book.

FIGS. 37-38 provide another example that illustrates these aesthetic considerations. Specifically, FIG. 37 illustrates the dragging of another picture thumbnail 3705 to a non-picture-field location 3710 on page 2 of the photo book. As shown in FIG. 38, this dragging results in page 2 having three picture fields 3805-3815. As shown in this figure, the application selects the layout of these three fields 3805-3815 to be different than the layout of the three picture fields 3820-3830 on the adjacent page 3 of the photo book, as differing layouts on two pages that can be concurrently viewed is more aesthetically pleasing than two identical layouts on two such pages.

In addition, given that all three pictures on page 2 have a landscape orientation and that one of the picture fields 3805 has a portrait orientation, the application ends up displaying only a portion of the landscape picture that it presents in picture field 3805, as shown in FIG. 38. If the user does not like the limited view of the picture in the field 3805, the user can always adjust the picture through pan, zoom, and fit-to-frame operations, which will be further described below. The user can also drag the landscape picture to a landscape picture field on the page or an adjacent page. For instance, FIG. 39 illustrates the dragging of the landscape picture in the field 3805 to the landscape picture field 3825 on page 3 of the photo book. FIG. 40 then illustrates the resulting appearance of the pictures and picture fields on pages 2 and 3.

As shown in FIG. 40, the dragging of the picture to the field 3825 not only took away the picture from page 2 but also eliminated the picture field 3805 from this page and caused the picture fields 3810 and 3815 to be replaced by picture fields 3605 and 3610.

Some embodiments also allow a user to remove a picture from a picture field without removing the picture field from the photo book. For instance, some embodiments allow the user to remove a picture through the menu options presented on top of the application (e.g., through the drop-down Edit menu option, which might include a Remove Picture command). Also, FIGS. 41-43 illustrate that some embodiments allow a user to remove a picture without removing its picture field through a command window 4105 that the user can open on top of the picture (e.g., by performing a control-click or right-hand click operation while the cursor is over the picture field). FIG. 42 illustrates the selection of the Remove Photo command in this window, while FIG. 43 illustrates page 2 of the photo book after the removal of the picture from the picture field 3805.

Yet another way of removing a picture without removing a picture field is to drag and drop a thumbnail 4405 of a new picture over the picture field 3605, as illustrated in FIG. 44. FIG. 45 illustrates that this drag-and-drop operation results in the picture of the dragged thumbnail 4405 replacing the picture that was previously in the picture field 3605.

When a user inserts a picture having a first orientation in a picture field having a second orientation, some embodiments perform one or more operations in order to maintain the expected aesthetic appeal of the page. For instance, FIG. 46 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail 4605 of a portrait picture onto a landscape picture field 4610 that has a text field 4615 below it. FIG. 47 then displays that this results in a new picture field 4705 that has a portrait orientation with a text field 4710 to its left.

FIG. 48 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail 4805 of a landscape picture onto a portrait picture field 4810 that has another portrait picture field 4815 to its left. FIG. 49 then displays that this results in a new picture field 4905 that has a landscape orientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field 4910 on its top right corner.

FIG. 50 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail 5005 of a landscape picture onto a portrait picture field 5010 that has another landscape picture field 5015 to its right side. FIG. 51 then displays that this results in a new picture field 5105 that has a landscape orientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field 5110 on its top right corner.

In the examples mentioned above, the application tries to maintain the expect aesthetic appeal of the page when a user inserts a picture with one orientation in a picture field with a different orientation by (1) switching to a new picture field with a different orientation that matches the orientation of the picture, (2) switching the position of text field(s) on the page, (3) changing size or orientation of other picture fields on the same page. In other cases, the application might perform other operations, such as (1) showing only a portion of the added picture in the picture field, (2) shrinking the new picture to fit the picture field, (3) placing a colored background in the picture field to smooth the coloring in areas in the picture field that are not covered by the new picture, etc.

VII. Editing Pictures and Picture Fields

Some embodiments also allow a user to edit pictures and picture fields. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can enlarge the presentation of a picture in the picture field. FIGS. 52 and 53 illustrate how some embodiments allow the user to enlarge the presentation of a picture. FIG. 52 illustrates that the user first has to select the picture 5205 (e.g., by clicking on the picture) in order to cause a zoom control bar 5210 to appear above the picture. The user can then adjust the size of the presentation of the picture 5205 in the picture field 5215 by moving a slider 5220 across the scroll bar 5210. FIG. 53 illustrates the enlarged presentation of the picture 5205 in the picture field 5215 after the user has dragged the slider 5220 across the scroll bar 5210.

When the presentation of the picture is bigger than the picture field, a portion of the picture is not displayed in the picture field. In such a situation, some embodiments allow the user to move the picture in the picture field to show the portion of the picture that the user want to appear in the picture field. The user can move the picture in some embodiments by selecting the picture (e.g., by clicking on it), and then performing a click-and-drag operation on the picture. For instance, in the example illustrated in FIG. 53, the picture 5205 is selected based on the zooming operation that was described above. Hence, to move the picture, the user presses and holds a cursor controller button when the cursor is on top of the picture 5205 and then moves the cursor while still holding the cursor controller button. This operation results in the moving of the picture 5205 in the picture field 5215, as shown in FIG. 54.

The user can also initiate the editing of a picture while designing a photo book. To do this, the user can select the edit option in a command window 4105 that the user can open on top of the picture (e.g., by performing a control-click or right-hand click operation while the cursor is the selected picture). FIG. 55 illustrates the opening of the command window 4105 over the picture 5505. After this selection, the user can select the edit option. Such a selection replaces the photo-album display section 910 and the edit-control section 920 in the application's GUI display with edited-image window 5605 and image-edit-tools section 5610, as shown in FIG. 56. As shown in this figure, the edited-image window 5605 displays the picture that is being edited, while the image-edit-tools section 5610 includes icons for several edit commands.

FIGS. 57-59 illustrate one example of an edit operation. Specifically, FIG. 57 illustrates the start of a cropping operation that is initiated after the user selects the crop icon 5620. FIG. 58 illustrates the end of the cropping operation, while FIG. 59 illustrates the resulting cropped picture in the window 5605. After the user has finished editing an image, the user can return the edited image to its picture field (i.e., can replace the edited-image window 5605 and image-edit-tools section 5610 in the application's GUI display with the photo-album display section 910 and the edit-control section 920) by double-clicking on the window 5605.

Through the command window 4105, the user can also (1) toggle the orientation of a picture field, as shown in FIGS. 60 and 61, (2) move one picture field in front of another, as shown in FIGS. 62 and 63, and (3) have the presentation of a picture fit the size of a picture field, as shown in FIGS. 64 and 65.

VIII. Automatic Insertion of Pictures

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the application provides the user with the option of manually inserting pictures in a selected photo book or having the application automatically insert these pictures in the selected photo book, after the user selects a photo book theme. If the user selects the automatic option, the application automatically inserts the picture in the picture fields of the photo book. After this automatic insertion, the user, however, is free to change the placement of the pictures, the orientation of the picture fields, the design of the photo book, etc.

As shown in FIG. 9, the book-edit-control section 920 also includes an auto flow icon 992. When the user selects this icon, the application automatically inserts any unplaced picture identified in the preview window 905 in the unused picture fields in the photo book. Also, as shown in FIG. 31, the command window 3105 includes a clean-up book command. When the user selects this command, the application performs one or more clean up operations to organize the photo book. Examples of these operations include removing unused picture fields in the photo book, removing unused pages of the photo book, etc. Different embodiments perform different clean up operations and different combinations of clean up operations.

IX. Changing Themes

Through a Theme selection icon 994 in the control section 920, some embodiments also allow a user to change the theme of a photo book after creating the photo book based on another theme. FIGS. 66-70 illustrate an example of a user changing the theme of a photo book. Specifically, FIG. 66 illustrates the user's selection of the Theme icon 994 while viewing a photo book that is based on the Watercolor theme. FIG. 67 then illustrates a warning that the user is presented after selecting the Theme icon 994. This warning informs the user that changing to a different theme may result in the loss of added text and request confirmation from the user whether to continue.

When the user confirms that he or she wishes to continue, the user is presented with the theme window 400 illustrated in FIG. 68. As mentioned above, the window 400 lists the available themes and provides a preview of each theme selected in the list. When this window opens, the selected theme in the list is the current theme and the preview provided is the preview of the current theme. FIG. 69 illustrate the user selecting a different theme, which in this case is the Travel theme. Finally, FIG. 70 illustrates the user being presented with a photo book that is based on the travel theme.

Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated by selecting a Buy Book command icon 996 in the control section 920.

XXI. Exemplary Flow of Potential Interactions

FIG. 71 conceptually illustrates a process that represents an exemplary flow of interactions between the user and the photo editing and organizing application of some embodiments of the invention. The flow represents some of the ways in which the user can use the application to generate a photo book. However, the user may follow other sequence of operations in interacting with the application to generate a photo book.

As shown in this figure, the process 7100 initially receives (at 7105) a request to generate a photo book for a collection of pictures. Next, the process provides (at 7110) the user with a list of available photo book themes that the user can explore. The process then receives (at 7112) the user's selection of a photo book.

Next, the process 7100 asks (at 7115) the user whether the user wishes to manually insert the collection of pictures selected at 7105. If not, the process 7100 automatically inserts (at 7120) the collection of pictures in the selected photo book and transitions to 7125. However, when the process 7100 determines (at 7115) that the collection of pictures will be manually inserted in the selected photo book, the process 7100 transitions to 7125 from 7115.

At 7125, the process receives from the user edits of the thematic attribute of the photo book. Based on these received edits, the process edits the photo book. Next, at 7130, the process 7100 receives from the user (1) requests to add and remove pictures to the photo book and (2) requests to edit the pictures and the photo book.

After the editing operations at 7130, the process 7100 receives (at 7135) a request from the user to clean up the remainder of the photo book (e.g., to take out unused pages and move up the pictures, if necessary). A clean up operation might be required if during the course of editing (e.g., adding, removing, moving) the pictures, space in the photo book that was originally designed for a picture is empty. In such a case, during the clean up operation, the process 7100 edits the photo book to remove all such empty spaces. For instance, if a page of the photo book includes three spaces for pictures and only two pictures are inserted in that page, the process 7100 would edit that particular page to provide space for only two pictures.

After the clean up operations at 7135, the process 7100 receives (at 7140) a request from the user to purchase the selected photo book. The process facilitates this purchase through an online transaction (e.g., a transaction through the Internet). After this transaction, the process ends.

XII. Computer System

FIG. 72 conceptually illustrates a computer system with which some embodiments of the invention are implemented. Computer system 7200 includes a bus 7205, a processor 7210, a system memory 7215, a read-only memory 7220, a permanent storage device 7225, input devices 7230, and output devices 7235.

The bus 7205 collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipset buses that support communication among internal devices of the computer system 7200. For instance, the bus 7205 communicatively connects the processor 7210 with the read-only memory 7220, the system memory 7215, and the permanent storage device 7225.

From these various memory units, the processor 7210 retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order to execute the processes of the invention. The read-only-memory (ROM) 7220 stores static data and instructions that are needed by the processor 7210 and other modules of the computer system. The permanent storage device 7225, on the other hand, is a read-and-write memory device. This device is a non-volatile memory unit that stores instruction and data even when the computer system 7200 is off. Some embodiments of the invention use a mass-storage device (such as a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive) as the permanent storage device 7225. Other embodiments use a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk or Zip® disk, and its corresponding disk drive) as the permanent storage device.

Like the permanent storage device 7225, the system memory 7215 is a read-and-write memory device. However, unlike storage device 7225, the system memory is a volatile read-and-write memory, such as a random access memory. The system memory stores some of the instructions and data that the processor needs at runtime. In some embodiments, the invention's processes are stored in the system memory 7215, the permanent storage device 7225, and/or the read-only memory 7220.

The bus 7205 also connects to the input and output devices 7230 and 7235. The input devices enable the user to communicate information and select commands to the computer system. The input devices 7230 include alphanumeric keyboards and cursor-controllers. The output devices 7235 display images generated by the computer system. The output devices include printers and display devices, such as cathode ray tubes (CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD).

Finally, as shown in FIG. 72, bus 7205 also couples computer 7200 to a network 7265 through a network adapter (not shown). In this manner, the computer can be a part of a network of computers (such as a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), or an Intranet) or a network of networks (such as the Internet). Any or all of the components of computer system 7200 may be used in conjunction with the invention. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any other system configuration may also be used in conjunction with the invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to numerous specific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, in the above description, numerous GUI operations (e.g., click, drag) are described while performing the above method. However, one skilled in the art will realize that other GUI operations may be performed to achieve the same results. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details, but rather is to be defined by the appended claims. 

1. A computer-implemented method comprising: displaying, in a first display area, a plurality of different selectable photo book themes that specify different photo book layouts for publishing a set of images to different physical photo books, at least one particular photo book theme specifying different designs for different pages of a photo book layout; displaying a plurality of selectable options for customizing attributes of a physical photo book, said attributes comprising a physical cover-type of the physical photo book; upon a first selection of the particular photo book theme and a selection of a set of attribute options, displaying a preview of the physical photo book that is based on the particular photo book theme and that has a set of attributes corresponding to the set of selected attribute options, said preview displayed in a second display area while simultaneously displaying the particular photo book theme in the first display area; upon a second selection of the particular photo book theme, displaying the photo book layout based on the particular photo book theme; editing the photo book layout according to a set of user input; and transmitting data regarding the photo book layout across the Internet in order to publish the physical photo book based on the photo book layout and the set of attribute options selected from the plurality of selectable options.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: before displaying the photo book layout, receiving selection of a collection of images; and automatically laying out a set of pages of the photo book layout with the images from the collection.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the photo book layout comprises displaying a plurality of picture fields on a page of the photo book layout, the plurality of picture fields for receiving and displaying images, the method further comprising: displaying a plurality of different selectable picture field layouts for the page, each particular picture field layout displayed with a thumbnail preview of the particular picture field layout; from the plurality of different selectable picture field layouts, receiving selection of a picture field layout; and modifying the layout of the plurality of picture fields on the page according to the selected picture field layout.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular photo book theme is associated with a plurality of different page designs, the method further comprising: from the plurality of different page designs, receiving selection of a page design; and modifying the page design of a page of the photo book layout according to the selected page design, said modifying comprising changing at least one of a background color of the page, position of text on the page, and a frame of a picture field on the page.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of selected attribute options comprises an option related to a size of the physical photo book, wherein displaying the preview comprises displaying the preview of the physical photo book that is based on the size of the selected option.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of selected attribute options comprises an option related to the physical cover-type of the physical photo book, wherein displaying the preview comprises displaying the preview of the physical photo book according to the physical cover-type of the selected option.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by an application program comprising a graphical user interface (“GUI”).
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying the plurality of different selectable photo book themes further comprises displaying a thumbnail image next to each theme in the plurality of different selectable photo book themes.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first display area is adjacent to the second display area.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected particular photo book theme is a first selected photo book theme and the photo book layout is a first photo book layout, the method further comprising: receiving selection of a second photo book theme from a user; displaying a preview of another physical photo book that is based on the second selected photo book theme; and displaying a second photo book layout based on the second selected photo book theme.
 11. The method of claim 10 further comprising: before displaying the second photo book layout, displaying a notification which informs the user that any edits made to the first photo book layout might be lost when the second photo book layout is displayed based on the second selected photo book theme.
 12. A non-transitory readable storage medium storing a program for execution by at least one processor, the program comprising sets of instructions for: displaying, in a first display area, a plurality of selectable photo book themes specifying different photo books layout for publishing a set of images to different custom photo books, at least one particular photo book theme specifying different designs for different pages of a photo book layout; displaying a plurality of selectable options for specifying attributes of a custom photo book, said attributes comprising a physical cover-type of the custom photo book; displaying, upon a first selection of a selectable photo book theme and a selection of a set of attribute options, a preview of a corresponding custom photo book having a set of attributes corresponding to the set of selected attribute options, said preview displayed in a second display area while simultaneously displaying the particular photo book theme in the first display area; displaying, upon a second selection of the selectable photo book theme, the photo book layout based on the selected photo book theme; editing the photo book layout according to a set of user input; and transmitting data regarding the photo book layout across the Internet in order to publish the custom photo book based on the photo book layout and the set of attribute options selected from the plurality of selectable options.
 13. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein a selected attribute option is associated with a size of the custom photo book, wherein said program further comprises a set of instructions for transmitting data regarding the photo book layout across the Internet in order to obtain the custom photo book that is published in the size associated with the selected attribute option based on the photo book layout.
 14. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein a selected attribute option is associated with the physical cover-type of the custom photo book, wherein said program further comprises a set of instructions for transmitting data regarding the photo book layout across the Internet in order to obtain the custom photo book that is published in the physical cover-type associated with the selected attribute option based on the photo book layout.
 15. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein said physical cover-type includes hardcover and softcover for the custom photo book, wherein the plurality of selectable options comprises a first set of sizes for a hardcover custom photo book and a second different set of sizes for a softcover custom photo book.
 16. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein a selected attribute option is associated with double sided pages for the custom photo book, wherein said program further comprises a set of instructions for transmitting data regarding the photo book layout across the Internet in order to obtain the custom photo book that is published with double sided pages based on the photo book layout and the selected attribute option.
 17. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein a set of instructions for displaying the preview comprises a set of instructions for displaying a preview of a custom photo book with an image inserted into at least one of page of the custom photo book.
 18. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions for displaying the plurality of selectable photo book themes comprises a set of instructions for displaying a thumbnail preview of a particular theme adjacent to each particular theme in the plurality of selectable photo book themes. 